Diana Reese is a freelance journalist in Kansas City. The Washington Post carried her article that compares the trashy mom porn novel 50 Shades of Grey to a case in Missouri where a mentally challenged woman was held captive for 7 years.

As far as I can tell, because I haven’t read the book, 50 Shades of Grey is about a man who introduces a naive young woman into the world of BDSM. From what actual practitioners of BDSM have told me it’s just a Harlequin romance novel that made it big. But I’m not here to trash the book. I’m here to call Ms. Reese’s article not only irresponsible journalism but trying to get ink (or pixels) by using something that’s popular to trivialize the plight of a woman who was tortured and traded for 7 years.

I’ve posted about the story of Edward Bagley Sr. and his wife Marilyn of Lebanon, Missouri before. They allegedly took in a mentally challenged 16-year-old runaway in 2002. Bagley convinced her to come live with him and even made her sign a contract that said he owned her which she thought was legally binding. He is believed to have raped and tortured the woman for years over webacam and with private shows for some of his buddies. He had the girl tattooed with his name to show dominance over her and that she was his property. Investigators say that Bagley also traded her out to some of his friends for money, clothes, cigarettes and steaks. Did I mention at one point she allegedly had her vagina sewn shut as a form of punishment?

This is not BDSM in any sense of the term. This is just pure sadism in its basest sense, torture for the sake of torture.

How dare anyone try to compare the torture this woman endured from the ages of 16 to 23 as a ‘relationship’.